But the guy getting all the heat right now is Ted Cruz, currently in second, followed by Carson, Rubio and a suddenly surging Bush. Don't count him out yet. If Bush does get the nominee and he is against Sanders, expect a Republican whooping the likes of which hasn't been seen in years. Sanders gets cross party appeal, while Bush only gets hard core conservatives, as well as total morons to vote for him. That would be a landslide. The other way is to elect Ted Cruz as their nominee, but that is running into some foreseen obstacles.
The Republican party is well known for doing something underhanded and dirty only to have it boomerang right back at them. Dennis Hastert found that out first hand when laws he passed helped got him arrested for an old, gay sex crime. Now it is birtherism that is back, and unlike Obama, this one has some actual issues with it. I get the feeling that every time Obama feels down these days, he reads an article about Cruz defending his credentials to run and failing. I am sure this gives him the warm fuzzies and big smile.
The issue is two fold. First, if he was born in Canada does that make him eligible? On this, legal scholars are actually not sure. Mary Brigid McManamon, of Widner University in Delaware says he isn't. Here is what she had to say about it.
"The Constitution provides that “No person except a natural born Citizen . . . shall be eligible to the Office of President.” The concept of “natural born” comes from common law, and it is that law the Supreme Court has said we must turn to for the concept’s definition. On this subject, common law is clear and unambiguous. The 18th-century English jurist William Blackstone, the preeminent authority on it, declared natural-born citizens are “such as are born within the dominions of the crown of England,” while aliens are “such as are born out of it.” The key to this division is the assumption of allegiance to one’s country of birth. The Americans who drafted the Constitution adopted this principle for the United States. James Madison, known as the “father of the Constitution,” stated, “It is an established maxim that birth is a criterion of allegiance. . . . [And] place is the most certain criterion; it is what applies in the United States.”
This makes Cruz a US citizen but not a natural born one, which would make him ineligible. Should he somehow win the nomination, there is a legal possibility that this may wind up in court, most likely headed by Donald Trump. Wouldn't that be hysterical?
There is also the problem with the fact that his parents may have renounced their American citizenship while in Canada and during the time of Cruz's birth, making him not an American citizen at all at that point, but Canadian. Investigative reporters have uncovered a voter roll from his parents area which appears to show them on it. As only Canadian citizens can vote, their names being on it is troublesome. Now it could be a mistake, it could also mean his mother had both American and Canadian citizenship. The truth of the matter is that ultimately just another headache for the awful presidential candidate.
It won't make much difference either way because there is no way he wins the nomination in the first place. But I will laugh as he continues to get pummeled by birtherism that people like him started.
No comments:
Post a Comment